Division 7 has lots to be thankful + grateful for:

• Thankful for this school
• I am thankful that Canada exists
• I am thankful for having a teacher like you
• I am thankful for my friends, my family and all my things
• Thankful for all the things that I see at Parkcrest
• I’m thankful because I like all my classmates
• I am thankful for having Ms.Ralph as my teacher and I am thankful for playing with my friends
• I am thankful for my Mom and Dad
• Thankful for my friends in class and all my friends for playing with me outside at recess
• I am thankful to learn
• I’m thankful for everyone because I hope they have a good Thanksgiving
• Thankful for my family, friends and my teacher
• Thankful for Ms.Ralph and learning!
• Thankful for my community
• I’m thankful for my family to come over to my house for Thanksgiving
• I’m thankful for new students and new friends
• I’m thankful for my best teacher in the whole world
• I’m also thankful for being in Grade One
• Thankful for all my friends, my lovely sister and my family

During some exploration time in the gym, the students were divided into two teams. They were given 15 minutes to apply their critical thinking skills in order to communicate and cooperatively work together to develop ‘something.’ The students were thrilled and hit the ground running with ideas.

Planning, building, re-building (after the first attempt was not always as successful as envisioned), trying again, working together, navigating different ideas and compromises quickly evolved right before my eyes. It was fascinating to observe these curious, creative and enthusiastic thinkers. I stressed to the students that I wanted them to explore + play and to use their communication skills to share, and build upon one another’s creative ideas. Compromise can sometimes be a tricky thing for our young learners to handle, but this group quickly navigated this new territory and effectively worked together.

This open ended activity fits perfectly in line with our thinking core competency, “I can get ideas when I play. I get ideas when I use my senses to explore. My play ideas are fun for me and make me happy. I make my ideas work or I change what I am doing.”  

When we are playing, are we still learning? What do you think? 

Answers from the students of Division 7:

• we can learn how to build stuff
• if we are playing, we are still using our eyes which helps our eyes grow
• when you build with Lego it is like you are on a construction site and being a real life construction worker
• your brain is still working
• your brain gets bigger and stronger when you are playing
• you play and work with others
• you learn to be a good friend
• you are a communicator

In Math our Grade 2’s are working hard with numbers 1-100. Today we were busy with a task at hand, first we had to estimate (making a thoughtful guess) with the quantity of counters that we had. Secondly, we then had to count them (yes, all of them!). Once we determined the exact number that we had we had to show that number using a tens frame. This was a new task for us, identifying a number using tens frame and then identifying how many groups of tens and how many ones?

With the number 94 – how many groups of tens, and how many ones are there?

Since the beginning of the school year we have been focusing on our self-awareness, recognizing who we are, our strengths + dreams, our goals for improvement, how we are unique, noticing similarities and differences amongst ourselves and ultimately being proud of the wonderful, beautiful and special person that we are as individuals. To go along with our discussions we have been talking about family, what makes a family a family? Inspired by the storybook “A family is a family is a family” by Sara O’Leary we created our very own family tree outside our classroom door in the hallway. Next time you are in the upper wing, please come by and view our family tree.

A new year + new beginnings await!

Welcome families to our class website, here you will get a glimpse into the magic that occurs within our classroom walls. Your child’s individual Blogfolios will also be up and running very soon so please stay tuned.

During the last few weeks we have settled beautifully into our class routines. We continue to build and develop our inclusive, safe, forgiving, nurturing, kind and loving classroom community.

Ask your curious learner about some of our big ideas below:

• Language Arts: what is the job of your think maker? what is the job of our feelings keeper? what’s in your thinking bubble right now?
• Science: Penguins – do Penguins live in the Northern or Southern hemisphere? besides Antarctica where else can some Penguins live? what do you visualize when you think of a macaroni penguin?
• Socials: Families – what makes our family unique? what is your favourite thing to do with your family?

Our school came together on Friday to honour Terry Fox and continue the Marathon of Hope.

What values does Terry Fox instill in you – determination, perseverance or grit? During one of our class brainstorms, one of our young learners shared in class, “Terry Fox is my hero because he inspires me to do anything!”  Why is Terry Fox YOUR hero?